


Ripples

by Rackl_The_World



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Additional shipping charges may apply, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asmund Johnathan Thorsson, Awesome dad Tony Stark, Because Howard, Bruce is also grounded, But I'm not sorry, But he really didn't know, Cahir Jamie Stark-Rogers, Cahir is grounded for freaking ever, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Ceres, Despite initial impressions, F/M, Glass in general is not friendly, Glass tables are not friends, God I need 40 cups of coffee right now, Hold tight kids, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, I am so sorry for how long this took, I rewrote this instead of sleeping, It's his nest, M/M, Main OC is not a Mary-Sue, Multi, OCs - Freeform, Parent Tony Stark, Robotic dogs everywhere, Sagittarius Nikolai Hiller, Sponsored by sugar, Stephen Strange likes these crazy kids, THIS IS GONNA BE A DOOZY, There is something wrong with me, Time Travel, Tony Stark Feels, Tony is going to strangle someone, fury does not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2018-11-13 14:26:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11187009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rackl_The_World/pseuds/Rackl_The_World
Summary: It starts with a crash.No.Wait.A ripple.It starts...with a ripple.





	1. It starts

It hurts.

She's in pain, the bullet wound in her shoulder is no consequence, but the one in her belly is.

It hurts so bad.

She hates it.

Hates what she's holding more though.

Soft.

Sweet.

Sleeping while she brushes off medical attention.

She wants to wring the child's neck.

Wring it like a dirty cloth.

But she can't.

She can't do it.

"Cahir." She says, finally, into the momentary silence. "It means... Warrior. I think."

Steve Rogers kneels in front of her, and one massive hand cups her chin. Lifts her face up to face the light.

Light...

It's getting brighter.

"It's a good name. It fits you." He says. He smiles with his whole face, she notices groggily.

"Not me. Her." Her arm twitches, growing too heavy to lift. The child clutched in her arms frowns, but the expression smooths over in a moment.

"Why?"

"Because she'll fight. Not like I did... not to kill. To protect. And... I want to hate her. because..." She snaps her jaw closed, she doesn't want to say.

"Lilith?" Steve Rogers asks her. That's right. Lilith. The first wife of Adam, cast to Hell.

It fits. Better than Cahir. She has no name, but Lilith...

No. Lilith is never going to be Cahir.

"She's going to be happy. So happy. She's not going to be a monster like me." She sobs a little. Oh, how her handlers would laugh to see Lilith now. or maybe they won't. Maybe they would kill her instead.

Lilith, Jack, and Holmes. No... no room for happiness.

Jack was killed by Hawkeye after he had stabbed Widow, Holmes and her had killed him and Thor, even Banner before Captain took his head off, and almost hers, but she fled.

Fled to a time they didn't know her.

Didn't have defenses against her.

But why?

She felt so tired.

Steve pulled her close, cradling her into the crook of his neck like she was precious. Like she was made of sugar glass and was about to break.

'Heh. What a funny thought.'

She felt a few tears leak out against her own will, and felt her muscles loosen a little. She was so tired...

Maybe...

She could sleep for just a moment.

She was so warm, and the light was so soft...

 

 

 

 

 

\----

When the portal opened and the Captain stepped out, he wasn't expecting what he saw.

Lilith was held in the arms of a man who had his face buried in her hair, shoulder shaking.

She wasn't breathing.

"What happened here?" He demanded. "Do you even know who that is?!"

"Lilith." came a defiant voice. Widow. "And yes. We know. We're still here."

She walked in front of him.

"She won't came back."

He felt his lips thin. They didn't know anything, did they?

"We found her. As a child. and her brothers. They won't come back." Widow asserted. She pointed at Hawkeye, who was bouncing a fussing 4 year old boy with jet black hair, singing a country song.

"We were too late for the rest of the children. but we managed to save three. Well, she managed to save three. One of the boys is in the ICU. He.... He'll never see again... But he'll live. They'll all live. And your nightmare... will never happen."

"It doesn't change things Widow."

"No. It doesn't. We still died in your time. We still fought the good fight. But in this world. No, this time... It won't happen. I can promise you that."

"Where's the girl?" He demanded.

"With Tony. So far... he's the only one who can get her to stop crying." She glances at the weeping Steve Rogers behind her. "We called her Cahir."

"You gave that thing a name."

"We gave her a name, yes. Not that you care."

"Where is it?" His voice had become a growl.

Widow snapped her green eyes back to him.

"I won't tell you. She's a baby in this time. Lilith is dead and no more. Cahir is ours. Go home. Back to your time. I'm sorry that it came to this, I really am. But killing a baby isn't going to kill Lilith."

The Captain pulled himself up to his full height.

Something cooed behind him.

He turned and saw with his own eyes, Lilith.

She was gnawing, or trying to gnaw, on Tony's shirt. Tony had a hand splayed over her spine, eyes fixed on the Captain.

Lilith stopped what she was doing, and looked up at him.

He sucked in a breath, feeling like he had been punched in the ribs.

It wasn't...

What was he expecting?

Some monster?

Some deformed being that waited in the shadows to kill?

This...

It wasn't any of that.

He looked away, back to Steve Rogers, still kneeling on the floor, still holding the body of a murderer, and stopped.

Lilith...

He had hunted across time for the murderer of his friends and family, while Tony lay in a coma he probably never wake from, hunted to bring someone to justice...

Only to find a corpse.

He breathed out, and fixed Lilith- no Cahir- with a stare.

Babies really didn't fear anything, did they?

She wasn't a threat.

Not now.

Not ever.

He tore his eyes away from her and walked back into the portal.

He let it close behind him, and he felt his age hit him suddenly, like it was wont to do in time like this.

Was he doing the right thing?

Letting it live?


	2. Banging and crashing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna be a long day.

In all honesty, it's memorable. Really, it is. Fury is bitching a storm because Hulk took down a building, never mind that one of his rookie agents shot Hulk (but that's neither here nor there), but Bruce is too busy using Thor as a pillow and his cape as a blanket and pretty much dead to the world to really react; so Tony is busy mouthing off and Steve is looking fondly exasperated. Clint isn't paying the slightest bit of attention, as he and Natasha were busy engaging in a whisper war of when and where Steve was going to be bending over his manic genius for the stunt he pulled earlier (Clint's betting supply closet, Natasha is banking on the 3rd floor conference room).

Thor... is also not paying attention. Normally Thor is all over a debriefing (after, of course, a hilariously mortifying incident where everyone found out that Thor wielded two hammers) like white on rice, but today he's fixated on the windows. Normally, Thor being fixated on anything is cause for concern because it ranges from, 'tis a fine day for flying' and 'tis a fine day for a storm'. Both of which, incidentally, causes numerous broken windows. But his gaze is fixed on the windows, and he's silent.

In the span of ten seconds, that changes drastically.

**"BROTHERS!"** He roars, but it's too late to really _stop_ anything. A figure slams into the windows of the Helicarrier, and shatters the _fucking bulletproof glass_ and proceeds to wipe out ten or so computers before clipping a railing and slamming into Tony. Pure momentum causes both to hit the wall, and Tony can only wheeze as he slides down the wall and to the floor.

"My leg..." He gasps out. Steve is by him first, and grabs the figure to pull it off Tony. And it's when he's about to throw the heavy suit to one side that he notices.

It's an Iron Man armor. a really lightweight version, and frighteningly small. Tony shoved at his hands and he gingerly put the figure down. The armor was a multitude of grays and blacks, with what looks like a shallow Arc Reactor on the chest, and where there were the familiar plating used to overlap was replaced with a stiff metallic mesh. It was also bleeding.

It was a slow trickle, and suddenly, when Steve tried to move the person wearing the armor, it gave an aborted heave and jerk as if it were trying to breathe. Steve pulled away, but Tony put a hand on the figure's chest to try and keep them from hurting themselves further.

"Whoa, easy n-"

_Palm print recognized. Emergency deactivation protocol activated. Authorization: Anthony Edward Stark-Rogers._ Came a voice from the chestplate. In a few seconds, the gathered Avengers knew that this was not an average Iron Man armor.

The mesh, turned into liquid, and raced into the chestplate, leaving some simple plating that seemed to turn into microscopic scales before following the liquid. All that was left was a chestplate and a helmet, and after a few moments that too shifted into a liquid state. But rather than heading down to the chestplate, it remained on the figure's head, turning into a hairband decorated with a series of metal clockwork gears and glass wings.

Because the figure under the armor...

Was a woman.

No.

A _girl_.

Tony felt like throwing up.

She had, in a twist of irony, his mother's face.

'What the fuck?' he thought, fighting the urge to gag. After all, the last time he saw this face, it had been crushed nearly beyond recognition.

Her eyes opened, thankfully - _mercifully_ \- a startling shade of blue. Well, her left eye was blue. Her right was a perfect shade of silver grey. They groggily tracked around the room, until her eyes landed on Tony.

"Dad?" She half-groaned, before promptly passing out.

Steve and Tony looked up at one another.

Their faces shared a similar expression.

_What the **hell** is going on?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, to make a long story short.  
> Shit happened.  
> A lot of shit happened.  
> I had to scrape the original story (Future Avengers(Tony Stark has a daughter and she's not afraid to admit it)) for several reasons.
> 
> 1) I lost the plot.  
> 2)It was getting too Mary-Sue on paper.  
> 3) I wasn't giving the main relationship it's required attention.  
> 4) Sweet baby Jesus with a side of habenero sauce, it was badly planned.  
> 5) I totally blame work for #4.
> 
> You may have noticed that Maria (if you read the previous iteration of this story) is different. Don't get me wrong, I loved her as Maria, and she had a really sweet reason why she was named Maria-Sarah, but it started sounding a little... Well, suffice she was quickly becoming Cersi Lannister. And I'm not a fan of parent/child incest.
> 
> So yeah. Scrapped. Literally.  
> But hopefully, this is going to be a lot better, so feel free to let me know? Yes? Please?
> 
> Sooooo.... yeah. I'll try to upload on a regular basis, but no promises, shit's still cray IRL.  
> But, I love you if you decided to give this a bit of your time, and have a kick-ass day!  
> XOXOXO  
> Rackl


	3. Through glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets a little introspective.

She's stable. Steve sighs as he considers the girl on the other side of the glass.

Fury wasn't pleased, since literally anything they tried to use on her to gain information had encountered some... _problems_ to say the least. Photos became corrupted, blood samples boiled apart, skin scrapings dissolved to nothing. So now they had a literal Jane Doe in the medical wing, and they weren't able to make any type of head way.

Steve looked to one side. There was a table in this room, and on it, sat everything she had been wearing. All of it, equally resistant to probing as their mysterious owner. He reaches out and lifts the heavy body suit they had to cut off her. Not that you'd be able to tell, since those surgical cuts, plus the rip that lay over her side from the glass, were completely gone. Tony nearly had spasms of pure joy when he saw what the fabric had done. _Nanite technology_ Tony had gushed; though Steve knew the brunette would deny it later.

Steve liked what he saw with her equipment, starting with the chestplate. It mimicked the human ribs, and when activated, probably acted like a padded helmet. He could only guess, but he trusted his intuition, and his intuition was saying the tiny slots on the edges of the chestplate was where the majority of her armor had gone. There was a heavy duty belt, similar to construction of his own, but slightly thicker with slots between the layers of tough material. There was a thigh holster, and a strange flat backpack that sat _under_ the chestplate, boots with thick soles, Tony had taken a peek at them and found that it had a magnet system that was engaged by a pressure system on the heel, with a small but sharp non-metal blade mounted into the toes. Clint had found that particular surprise. Than there was the sheer number of weapons that had been squirreled away, from paper thin knives with symbols on them, to the pair or ritual-looking daggers that sat in an x-shaped holster on the belt.

There were vials of unidentified substances, one bottle looked as if it were filled with the night sky, but none of them could be opened, Steve had cracked one in an attempt, but the glass, like the uniform, repaired itself. There was a set of earrings, that had more of those strange markings one them, and four bracelets that gave Steve the chills to handle them. Given how Natasha had acted when she picked up one that looked like plastic pearls and metal links, he wasn't alone in that. They gave the impression of many voices pressing on the inner ear, and he had tossed the bracelet consisting of plain glass beads of different colors back on the table after just a few seconds.Then there was a pouch with many dark red-black beads, another filled with tiny pieces of metal that looked like deconstructed firearms and circuitry, and a third with a tightly rolled slips of paper that resisted opening. The last thing that had any attention, aside from her headband, was a simple choker with a large electric blue stone in the center. At first glance, it was unremarkable, but tilting the stone in various directions revealed symbols that littered her equipment.

They had answers in front of them, he knew that much. But it was like trying to read ancient Greek. Maybe that was a bad analogy. But the point still stood, he had the answers in front of him... but he didn't know how to get them.

'Like a bad movie, trying to steal the answers and cheat rather than go directly to the source.' He set the heavy fabric down, and looked over to the unconscious figure. She was a pretty thing, his inner artist wanted to capture her on paper. She was definitely Tony's child, all wiry muscle and kitten-like pouting in the face. But he saw disturbing signs of his own face there, in his pre-serum days. The high arch of her brow, the sharp cut of his mother's jawline. Her single blue eye, a perfect copy of his own, right down to the singular almost hair-thin ribbon of sapphire his own right eye had. The left...

He thought back to the War, seeing the hazy track of silver-grey eyes finally focus on him. Bucky. Steve felt the urge to go out again, scour the earth and over-turn every stone until he saw Bucky again. But Tony, in a moment of perfect serious, told him to let Bucky be, that his first love (how had he even known? Never mind, he'd find out later) would come back in his own time and not a second before. That caused an almost catastrophic fight between the two of them, and several days of stony silence from Steve before he had been able to pull his head out of his ass.

Tony, as usual, was right. Bucky was off doing his own thing, and he would come home when he was ready and not a second before. In the meantime, Steve had to focus on other things. Like the mystery kid. He pulled his thoughts away from the past and re-focused.

She was too thin, too small. But the various cuts and needle pin-pricks were gone.

'Probably has the Serum. The only person I know besides myself who heals that quickly are Bruce, Natasha, and Thor, but healing doesn't render either of them comatose, just the transformation and battle fatigue. Tony has assured me time and time again that there isn't any true Serum. Mostly knock-offs and adaptations. Bucky probably has the same version as Natasha, maybe an earlier version. We did find that they tested new equipment on him.' He tapped his lips with a finger. 'We got in contact with Richards recently, and he mentioned something about a multiverse. That there are infinite possibilities, and we're just one of countless. She could be from such a place, and maybe they would have the the technology to reverse engineer the Serum. I don't know, and the one who does-'

Arms wrapped around his hips, and he smelled Tony's cologne just before the smaller man tightened his grip.

"Find out anything?"

"We finally got a viable blood test."

"You don't sound happy."

"She's mine Steve. There's a kid with my mitochondrial DNA less than ten feet away from me."

"What else?" Steve waited for the other shoe to drop. Tony didn't disappoint.

"She had yours too. And Bucky's. we have a file on him in the database, deeply buried, but it pinged when we ran it through."

Steve looked over his shoulder to spy a single dark curl.

"Is that possible?"

"No. No, it's not. Chimeras usually have two sets of one chromosome, but they have both the maternal and paternal DNA. She... she has DNA, but there's no precedent for this. She's related to all of us, but there's no trace of a mother. Like she never existed." Tony looked up at him, chocolate eyes filled with something close to terror.

"Tony..."

"I'm sure, okay? There's someone in that room who laughs in the face of science, and she's not from around here."

"Calm down. I believe you." Steve patted the arms around his waist.

Tony made a weird sound, but pressed closer.

"We'll figure this out." Steve looked back at the sleeping figure.

She was awake.

Steve froze, and felt Tony let go of his to lean around to see what he was looking at.

"Whemeye? Gaahh... head. Neeoutahere..." She held up a hand and a circle formed, filled with binary code. The equipment around her began to disassemble, and formed into panels with data streaming across them.

"These... Heli. Donneedem, need... names, Foster, Richards, Selvig... nothing. Know this already. Identifier... Where is it?" She rubbed a hand over her eyes. The images stilled and everything dropped.

"I'm not going to find what I'm looking for here. Time to go." Her eyes flashed the same electric blue as the stone Steve observed earlier, and the glass separating them shattered, her equipment flying at her and swarming around her.

The suit split and flowed around her body, sealing up without a seam to show for it. The rest of the gear found itself properly situated, and she walked towards the door leading out.

"Where are my brothers? And Ceres?" She muttered to herself before vanishing in a flash of blue light.


	4. And pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up

He's dying.

His ribs burn, his skull feels like it's falling apart under his skin, and there's a sharp stinging of cut skin all over his body, particularly his ribs.

There's more. Someone burns themselves, and his hand heats and bubbles, a paper cut farther away slices the boils open.

He wants to die, the sucking black void pulling from within, an loathsome, hurtful thing filled with irrational self-hatred.

His skin is crawling, the gloves on his skin rubbing the skin raw, but his hand is being held by one that is cold, and he doesn't want-

"Professor?! His face is bleeding again!"

"Sedate him! If he wakes up, there's no telling what would happen!"

A pin prick in his elbow brutally pulls him under.

He loses his grip, and his heart stops.

He's dying.

And...

His body jerks, and his muscles seize and expand against his will. He breathes, and his mind floods with noise, color and taste.

One noise/color/taste surges forward, its water rushing, cool grey and the smoothness of black tea, and he lets it drown him.

He can't hear anything but this.

There's fire and gold and rain to one side, and it hums with a scritchy-scratch blue coconut-y hue. Farther away, grassy yellow storms roil in his awareness.

He knows these noises. He knows them...

heknowsheknowsheknowheknowsheknowsheknowshknwsheknwshknwshwshwshwshwshwshshshshshsssssssssssssssss

_**Sagi.** _

Its so complete that it shoves out the water/grey/tea.

_**Breathe with me.** _

The fire/gold/rain breathes, and he follows, and suddenly, everything snaps back into place.

Ceres is to the side, with his connection to Cay singing along the edges, and 'Mund is far far away, slumbering deeper than he is.

He sinks deep into the darkness, with no noise.

It's silent.

He's not dying.

He's not-


	5. Trailing drops of blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something Tony managed to snag.

Fury is in fine form. Of course, he's in fine form whenever things aren't going his way to begin with, but right now, he would give Thor a run for his money.

Now that he's finished shouting at him and Steve, Tony can go back to trying to figure out the tiny chips of crystal that he nipped away from a belt pouch before Mystery Girl (patent pending) up and left. They're pretty things, clear and shot with ribbons of color that races the spectrum of rainbows. He thought it was simply refracted light, but the colors didn't change when he tilted the piece to the side. Nor did it reflect off the wall.

But it is crystal, fully natural, not glass. he knows this because it's quartz, clear and lined until the very tips, where it gets the classic smokey edge. Lab stones are too perfect, and Tony (though he'd rather die than say it out loud) likes those tiny imperfections that natural stones have.

"You know," He starts, lifting the crystal up, as if looking for some mystery number, "We _do_ have a tiny piece of her right here. We just need to see if it has anything."

"A piece of glass Stark?!" Fury barks.

"No. Its quartz crystal. There's hundreds, if not thousands, of records of data being held in quartz crystal. I bet you a buck that she's got information in this. We just need to find out how to get it." Tony flipped the piece like a coin.

"You think she'd keep something like that on her?" Natasha asked, holding out a hand for the crystal. Tony handed it over without question. He loved how she followed along.

"Oh, certainly. We took a peek at her equipment. She had a tiny metal disk made of steel tucked in between the layers of her belt, painted like Cap's shield. She obviously keeps it on her for a reason."

Natasha gave him a shrewd smirk, one that Clint mirrored.

"You think her brain works like yours, Stark?" Clint asked, leaning back in his chair and resting his heels on the table.

"Oh, sure Bird Brain. She's smart enough to get the fuck out of the Helicarrier while she had the chance, she's smart enough to keep back-ups. Quartz, supposedly has the ability to keep data up until 1,000 degrees. So, I'd imagine that she had copies of the copies, all squirreled away." Tony held out his hand, and Natasha handed him back the crystal. "And that's the important part."

The crystal, the moment it touched his palm, flashed, and the Helicarrier bridge vanished, leaving a darkened room filled with desks.

_~~~~~~~~_

_"She's In here?" Tony's voice asked, echoing slightly._

_"Yeah." A nervous-sounding young man answered. "Sorry for the scream earlier. DUM-E scared me."_

_"It's alright, he's kind of like a senile old man most of the time. You go on up, and let Steve and James know I've got her, yeah?"_

_"Will do, Mr. Stark."_

_"See you later Spidey." The shadowed silhouette of Tony walked into the room, a faint blue glow casting a barely visible light in the room._

_He pauses by a desk, head tilted to one side._

_Listening._

_There's a stifled sniffle and hiccup, and Tony turns to the left, where the sound came from._

_He doesn't say anything, just follows the sound to a desk in the corner, where a slim teenaged girl is trying to meld into the shadows of the darkest corner._

_"Hey baby." He says softly. He kneels, before sitting fully on the ground, his legs loosely drawn up, and loops his arms around his knees._

_"You okay?" There's a sharp movement to the right in the shadow where she's tucked herself into. Shaking her head._

_"Why don't you come out? I'm too old and you're too big for me to be squeezing myself under a desk after you."_

_"N-n-noooo." Comes a hiccuped sob. The slightly darker shape of her tries to shrink a little smaller._

_"Why not?" He doesn't move, doesn't try to reach out to her. His expression, what little can be seen, is slightly heart-broken._

_"Sh-s.... she's too c-c-close." Tony squints his eyes, and seems to try to focus on something that will tell him something._

_"I don't see anything." He tilts his head slightly. "You sure?"_

_The room shakes suddenly, desk banging and drawers slamming, noise layered over noise. It lasts forever, it lasts a heartbeat. Strangely, only the desk that Tony is leaning against remains still._

_"I'm sure." Her voice is a harsh whisper, blue lines flickering across her form._

_"Impressive. I would have believed it better if something came flying at me." Completely unperturbed, Tony reaches under the desk and tugs the girl out like she's a particularly skittish cat._

_Finally after a few moments of a half-hearted struggle, she gives in, and coils tight against his chest and shoulder. Tony wraps an arm around her, fingers carding through her hair._

_"Much better. Now, why were you hiding?"_

_"She took control. She almost killed everyone. She killed the Secretary of Defense." A muffled reply came._

_Tony said nothing for a few seconds._

_"Yes... she did. But I like to think she did us a favor."_

_The girl jerks back, eyes fearful, and she tries to pull back under the desk, but Tony refuses to relinquish his grip._

_"Hear me out, okay? Baby? Baby, I need you to listen. Yeah, it sucks that she killed. Nobody likes it when she takes over. And that's exactly what she did. She took over. She took control away from you, and she did something the rest of us had no nerve to do." Tony pulls her close, pressing a kiss to her hairline._ "And that's the important part. _She saved us all."_

_"She's a threat!" She whispers._

_"I think she's more of a danger to anybody that decides to try and hurt the Avengers. Think about it. The Secretary decided that mutants were irrevocably dangerous needed to be exterminated; so he tried to bully in a law that made all mutants fair game, despite the fact that they have as much protection as a baseline human. She probably took over because we all knew the first one he'd go for was Sagi. Jesus, Sagi's a bigger threat to himself than he is to anyone else. If he doesn't have you or Ash to keep his senses stable, he'd be off his rocker. **If** he made it this far in his life. So, no, none of us are mad. Not a single person here would fault Entity for her choice. She did something good. Yeah, someone died. But baby... You. Entity... she saved a hell of a lot more people today. Charles came by, he wanted to thank you, even though he knows that it's not easy on you." Tony rubbed her back. "His hands were tied here too. Did you know that? They had presented him with paperwork saying that he had to forfeit the lives of all the students. Jesus... I hate to think on how they managed to slip that past the legal procedure. But that's Hydra for you. Insidious bastards. But they'll think twice about pulling this stunt a second time."_

_There was a pause._

_"I thought you hated her."_

_"I hate what Hydra tried to make you. but Entity? You? No. Baby, hating Entity would be the biggest mistake I could ever make when it concerns you. I try all the time to not be like Howard, you know this. I wasn't lucky like Steve and James, who had good men to call their fathers, and even better women to call their mothers. I don't want to be like Howard. Hating something that's part of you, and it is, it really is baby doll. Hating that part of you, just because of what she represents... I'd be walking like Howard did. So no, I don't hate her. I sure as hell know where she's coming from though. She's part of you, which means she's just as much mine as the rest of the Avengers. So she's mine, and I'm keeping her, even if you don't like her." Tony curled his other arm around her, resting his cheek on the top of her head._

_There was a sniffle._

_"Let's go upstairs. Before someone decides to sic Steve on us for holing up in a dark office and avoiding Medical and debrief."_

_There's a watery sounding giggle._

_"Okay."_

_~~~~~_

The Helicarrier bridge returns.

The crystal drops back into the palm of Tony's hand, as if it didn't just throw Tony into the weirdest fucking thing he's seen all day.

"What the-"

" _Hell_ was that?!" Clint half-shouts. He looks as pale as a sheet, and a quick glance tell Tony that they all saw wheat he had seen.

"A memory." A new voice adds. Every head snaps to the direction of it. A young man stands off to one side, wearing, of all things, ancient Roman armor. He's smug, in a calculating kind of way, with an air of chilly fury ready to leap forward.

A bullet goes through his chest, but it doesn't do a thing.

"Rude, as my _dominae_ would say. You cannot harm a spirit." He tilts his head to one side, eyes turning flinty. "Her memories, if you will." He holds out a hand.

"You're a ghost. How can you take them?" Tony snaps. The calculating smirk returns.

"Very astute of you, Anthony. You're right, I cannot interact with the physical world." He vanishes, and reappears in front of Tony, icy-cold hands clasped on his shoulders.

"But you are the father of my _dominae_. And what is shared with her, I can touch."

_**"Octavius!"**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dominae is Latin for mistress or lady.
> 
> Cookies for anyone who knows what show this is chapter was inspired by!


	6. Staining everything it touches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone wakes in the Land in the Enchantment

He's muddle-minded when he first wakes up.

Something woke him, but at the moment, he doesn't know which one of his siblings it was.

He's hoping it's not Sagittarius. He's also hoping it's not Cahir. Sagittarius, Odin forbid, he can handle if Vulture wakes up. Cahir... _Entity_... He has about a snowflake's chance in hell. He pushes himself upright, slowly, so he doesn't lose whatever he has in his stomach at the moment. It's quiet, not quite lights out, but getting close enough that what few nurses he sees outside his room are chasing out the visitors of non-critical patients.

He swings his legs over the edge of his bed, he needs to be upright for a moment, while he gathers up his scattered thoughts.

He inhales deeply, repressing the urge to shudder at the faint taste of anti-septics, illness, and death, and spreads his awareness out, imagining his consciousness as a thin linen sheet over shoots of new grass. Enough that it allows him to hear thoughts, but not enough to be an uncomfortable presence to those more sensitive to such things.

Words trickle to him, stores and visions, of barren vistas and burnt earth.

New Mexico.

How fitting. He shakes off the sheet, and carefully gathers his consciousness.

He carefully sends shivers of his power through the machines he's hooked up to, delaying them as he carefully removes the needles. Luckily he doesn't have to deal with a tube in his privates, no amount of delaying would prevent a stampede if he screamed. Once the last needle is out, he sends another fizzle along the metal, destroying his blood.

'Spent too much time with Cahir during one of her bloody rituals....' He pauses when he thinks of the pun, then shakes his head. 'speaking of blood. Where is Sagittarius?'

He feels a faint pulse, his twin on the other end. Not close enough to tell him, but a decent enough sign of what direction he's heading.

North-East.

He plans briefly, but thoroughly. He has to get out of this hospital, and get his hands on some clothes. Maybe some money while he's at it. He's not fond of theft, but he doesn't have a choice in this matter. Undoubtedly, his clothing is in storage, or the local police station. Not a first time for either, and he doubts it'll be the last. He hopes it's in storage, but if he woke up after an extended period, it's probably not. He cracks his neck, and gets to work.

He mutters a spell of invisibility, a trick he learned from Uncle Loki, and walks out of his room once the coast is clear.

~  
Storage, is a bust, for the most part. Most of his cloths are still there, but not his equipment, and more distressingly, Sagittarius' medicine. He dresses, grateful that the spell covers clothing, and goes on the prowl for his equipment, faint against the natural wear and tear of the hospital life against the magic.

The equipment splits apart, and vanishes as he pursues those faint trails, until he knows that its a dead-end. He back-tracks and follows a trail out of the hospital into the local police station, and his equipment sits in an empty cabinet in the very back of the evidence room. He appropriates that, and leaves, heading for the city limits so he can properly fly off.

It's not much, and it leaves a faintly bad taste in his mouth, but nothing can really be done about it.

He drops down onto one knee, to better push off, and a niggling thought enters his mind.

_Where is Cahir?_


	7. Leaving the scent of Iron behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cahir is looking for something. No. Someone.

'It's blacker than the Abyss inside this hotel.' She thinks, as she nestles herself into a dark corner, deciding that abandoning her hunt for the Winter Solider was non-negotiable, but Octavius... She had been warned by numerous people that the Patron Builder was the most willful of the Pearl String Souls. It's honestly not the first time he had acted on his own, but never on this scale.

She focuses on Octavius, and is inside the Helicarrier.

Octavius is the only one who turns to her fully, the others still looking for the source since her astral form hasn't fully formed.

When it forms, she belatedly realizes that she's not in uniform with her astral form, instead she's wearing a plain button up with the high-waist shorts that both Papa and Daddy "strongly disapprove of" and the cat tights Dad bought purely to irritate her other two fathers further.

Not exactly an image of intimidation, but she can't really do anything about that. Octavius is examining her from head to toe, since usually this isn't what she's wearing when he's summoned.

"Very revealing, _dominae_." He murmurs, in tones of total appreciation. "I think I like it."

"First off: you're dead. Secondly: What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"You wound me. My dearest _dominae_ , I was retrieving your crystals." The Roman places a hand over his heart. "I was doing you a favor."

"You left the String without permission. We have a deal, if you remember, that when we are in times and realms other than our own, you stay in unless you've been summoned. The other Souls don't have a problem with that. Even Gravedigger, and he's older than you. And with more reason to leave."

Octavius huffed.

"Gravedigger is a shade of Death. Of course he can leave whenever he wishes."

She resisted the urge to pinch her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Barely, but resisted. 'Mund liked to say her exasperated expressions were entirely inherited from Daddy.

"You're ignoring the point. **_You're not supposed to leave the String unless you've been summoned._** " She tugs on a bracelet on her right wrist, one made of glass pearls and metal links. Octavius twitched, and tried to fight the pull.

 **"We have an agreement about this. Return to the String on your own power, or I will return you and seal you."** She growled. She hated having to do this, but it was dangerous to have any of the Souls out. She had no idea how she got here, nor when she'd be able to go back. Having the Souls roam could cause them to be left behind if she returned home as unexpectedly as she left. Octavius' expression became pinched.

"As you wish _dominae_." He became incorporeal, and turned into a cluster of golden motes. The motes converged on her wrist, and she felt a brush of pressure on her cheek.

 _I'm sorry._ The motes vanish, and the eight pearl on the String briefly glows, as her body registers the equally brief rise of heat against her skin.

"So. You have my crystals. Or rather..." she lets the sentence drift, as she senses the crystals return to the pouch where they came from. "Hm. Clever. While you were distracted, Octavius snagged them."

Tony glances at the table, where the pile of crystals used to sit. Gone.

"How... No. How the _hell_ did that guy grab me?"

"Knowing Octavius-"

" _AND_ he's named after a Roman Emperor?!" Tony interrupted.

"Because he IS a Roman Emperor. He is Gaius Octavius, later known as Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, the first true Emperor of Rome. Or, as he liked to call himself, The First Citizen of the State. Upon his death, he was given an choice, go to the realm of Pluto as himself fully, or have a portion of his Soul contained away for eternity, while the rest of his Soul was granted respite in the realm of the Gods. He agreed to the second choice, much like seven others before him did, and they were sealed away in a relic known as the Pearl String. That relic was enchanted, not to just contain Souls as they existed at their prime, but to disguise itself into an object that would be ignored by those who would try to use the powers within the String for evil intentions. There's also a enchantment that all but binds the Souls of the String to the Soul of the Master. Or Mistress, as it currently stands." She pointed at herself before continuing, "An interesting side effect is that whatever is connected to the Master is accessible to the Souls."

"So you can touch something, and they'd be able to pick it up?" Steve asked her.

"No. More like..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "A blood connection. The Souls can touch my fathers, but none of them can touch Uncle Loki. Octavius is actually the only one who can go further. The others can't do what he's capable of."

Steve gestured to the table.

"Like taking those crystals."

"Exactly. I'm not sure when or how he managed such a feat himself, or if he had always been able to do that purely due to who he was as a person. He's never told me."

Natasha snorted.

"You don't seem to have much control over him if he never tells you anything."

"Believe it or not... you know what? I'm not saying anything more on that. The fact of the matter is that you need to drop trying to find me. I've got shit to do and stuff to find out. So, deuces." She gave a sarcastic two-fingered salute, and turned away, fully intent on leaving.

"Actually, you can tell me how we have a soul bond." A new voice added.

She didn't even need to turn around to know that it was Stephen Strange.

"Long story short: Shit went down at a Hydra hideout, got into a meshing gone wrong, you had to pull mine and someone else's Souls apart, but that required you holding on to both Souls inside your own Soul. Hence, soul bond. And yes, we've tried to reverse it. No dice. So the three of us are soul bonded, but don't worry, as soon as I get back to my home time, you'll stop feeling it. Now seriously, I'm leaving." She pulled her astral form to her physical body and shook herself out the fog of exhaustion. "Just what I fucking need."

She stood carefully, but apparently, that movement was too fast for her quarry, and she dove to one side as a hail of bullets tore into the wall where she was sitting.

"Right. Back to business." She muttered to herself as she tucked her feet under her and mentally prepped herself to go face to face with the Winter Solider. She needed his help with what she was planning, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Wikipedia and CliffNotes for anything/everything concerning the first emperor of Rome. And if you're reading this after 11 pm, go to bed. It's late, and you deserve to sleep.
> 
> Love all of you guys, thank you for reading, and thank you for being here. Story is going to continue, don't worry, I just wanted you guys to know.


	8. Coating the senses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping hurts. A lot.

His chest hurts.

He's dimly aware of his surroundings, the rough texture of the mattress beneath him, the starch-stiffness of the hospital gown against his skin.

The growing, gnawing need to kill.

Ceres isn't there, fire/gold/rain far away.

'No. Not far. Subdued.'

The need grows. Vulture wants out, and he feels it like a drum against his ribs and skull, in a hungry and all-consuming beat. He wants to scream, to unleash some of the fury and pain that's contained, but Vulture doesn't want that. He wants to rip and tear, sink his teeth into tender throats-

_**NO! STOP! NONONONONONO!** _

He's sinking, deeper and deeper into the bleak darkness, that sucking void that he can't escape from.

All at once, the pain he's in is too much, and Vulture, always looking for a weakness, tears free; all sharp hunger and fury.

Ceres flares, and Vulture lashes out, hearing screams and he attacks.

He's gone. Vulture is all that remains now.

There's pain. And nothing but.

~~  
"Are you alright?" A soft English voice asks him.

He's sitting in Grand Central Park, face covered with both hands, bent to the point where his head is almost between his knees.

He hurts so bad.

He forgot his inhibitor, and minds from here to the tower are pressing on the inside of his head.

"Are you alright?" The voice is closer now, level with his knee.

"No." He gasps out, as one of the innumerable (and famous) angry New Yorkers walks past, anger stabbing a knife of emotions into his mind. There's a cool touch of skin against what little of his forehead is accessible, and he jerks away, even physical contact too much for him. He's careful not to uncover his face, the scars usually scare people off.

"Is there anything I can do to help? A friend I can call? Do you need me to call the Xavier's school?"

That thought stops him. He almost looks up, but his shock must be conveyed through his body language. The British voice continues.

"My brother... He... he was a mutant. A... Psiconic. I think. He used to have terrible headaches. I recognize them. Are you a student there?"

He shakes his head, as gently as he could, because the pain is becoming nausea.

"Can't. Too... no, don't worry about it... I just... Can't."

"Sagi?" It's Cay. He feels his shoulders loosen, as he shields wash over him, like aloe over a burn.

"Oh, is he your friend?"

"Hm? Oh, no. He's my brother. I took after Dad, he took after Mom." There's a touch to his shoulder, and then something clicks around his wrist. Pain recedes, and the fuzz of shielding descends on his head.

"Better?" She asks, nails gently scratching his scalp.

"Much. Can you get my glasses?"

A tap on one side of his head and Cay slips his glasses on.

"Is he alright?" The other voice asks.

"Yeah. It happens."

"I asked if he goes to Xavier's. He said he can't. Why?"

He can feel Cay pause.

"It's... extremely complicated. But thank you for seeing if he was okay."

He looks up and links to Cay's eyes, so he can see who was talking to him.

'Oh.'

'Yeah, kinda cute, isn't he?'

The man is tall, ash-blond hair with black roots, and green eyes.

"Complicated? I don't see how..." The man trails off. He's wearing a red hoodie, and he fiddles with the zipper in the air of nervous habit.

"It's a very long story, and it'll bore you with the details. But again, thank you. Sagi is a bit of an air-head sometimes."

The man bites his lip.

"Alright. I'll take your word for it. My name is Allen."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Cay, and obviously, you heard me call him Sagi."

"Sagi... is that short for something?"

"Sagittarius. But only my twin calls me that. Even Mother calls me Sagi." He inputs. He can hear 'Mund, his thoughts cool and smokey, a deep ocean blue.

"Oh. So.. you were born in November?"

Sagi shakes his head.

"No. My twin and I were born on different days. He was born on the last day of November, and I was born on the first day of December."

Allen's eyebrows rise. They're different colors, he notes, one black, the other ash-blond.

"Huh. Wow, that must be fun."

"We have their birthday at midnight, so we can spoil them both." Cay laughs. "Oh, I see 'Mund. I'll go get him. Be right back!"

'Have fun~' Her thoughts tease as she all but skips off.

Sagi turns slightly, as if watching her dart off, but it feels awkward.

"Sorry for talking like you weren't here. But... are you alright?"

"Yes. Cay... well, Cay likes to talk. Sometimes she'll do it to distract others."

"Ah. Was that what she was doing? Seems pretty protective." Allen's voice is soft, and somewhat fond. Sagi finds that he can still sense the other's thoughts. 

"Ah. Um, here." Allen gently takes his wrist.

Oh, well, that explains things. Allen was standing a closer to him then Cay. The shielding wouldn't be effective if there was something inside of it.

He feels a felt tip on his palm. A number, and a name.

"It might be a little presumptuous of me, but I... I would like to get to know you. I mean... I know your family probably supports you, with..." there's a pause, and Sagi hears footsteps walk past, pausing near them, and fading away, "Your... mutation. But... my brother couldn't go to Xavier's either. He had to go to the campus in California. He... he was a mess. He doesn't tell me, but I know not being able to see us regularly hurts."

He hears a foot tap. Allen.

"What I'm trying to say is... if you want to talk, I would like to help. Even a little. Sometimes... It's easier, talking to someone who isn't family. And... I would like to think that maybe... Maybe we can be friends."

Sagi huffs a small laugh.

"You're... not very good at this flirting thing, are you?"

He can _feel_ Allen blush.

"I'd like to see you try better!" Came the indignant reply. Sagi coils his fingers around Allen's wrist.

"No, no. I'm not making fun of you. It's nice, it's just been awhile. But yeah. That'd be nice. We could get coffee. Or tea. Since you're English."

Allen huffs.

"It better be bloody good tea then."

"Okay. How about Friday? Around 4?"

Allen sputters softly, then coughs into his free hand.

"I... I don't have any plans. Sounds lovely."

He smiles, and senses Allen's attention rivet to him, his mind washing over Sagi's mind. He's milk and vanilla, with matcha and foam green.

He would admit in about a year's time, at the alter no less, that it's then that he falls in love with Allen.

~

_HATE_

_KILL_

_He charges at the figure standing near the door, shimmery-white and gold, like fire personified._

_A fist slams into his ribs, and he feels the cracked bones give way. Feels a small detonator go off, trying to put a stop to him._

_He laughs manically, ignoring the pain it brings, and aims for the shimmery's neck._

_It's screaming, saying something, but he doesn't care. He want's it dead. Dead dead dead._

_The shimmery suddenly snarls, and it makes him pause. a fatal pause. Hands dig into his chest, and _rips_._

_He screams and flails, trying to get away, and the shimmery stops, and holds on instead._

_He lurches, trying and he pulls at something that pulls far away and-_

~~  
They slam into the ground, and God it hurts so much, too much.

There's hands at his chest, trying to pull at it.

"SAGI?! Sagi, hold on, Gods above I'm sorry, please, hold on, stay with me, sta...wi...m...eas...agi...!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Asmund was born November 30th, and Sagi was born December 1st.  
> Yes, this actually can happen with twins.  
> (who knew?)  
> (Me. I didn't know.)  
> For those curious, Cahir was born in the late spring.


	9. Until that is all that is left.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of Part 1.  
> 

"You cannot possibly have anymore bullets." She calls out. "Seriously, unless you found someway to remove them intact from the walls, I'm pretty sure you just spent the last one."

There's the soft scuff of leather against stone.

"Please stop shooting me. I'm very tired."

"How did you avoid every shot?" Came the growl.

"I'm a wizard, Harry." She replied. something sticks in the wood behind her head. 'Okay, he did not appreciate that joke.'

"Though in all seriousness, bullets can't hit what isn't physical. And I am a sorceress, not a hard thing to do. Invisibility 101 starts with rendering yourself intangible." 

"You aren't going to take me back."

"Who said I was going to? I'm looking for something, something that Hydra might have. Let me tag along, and I'll help you find what you're looking for too."

There was a pause.

"I don't believe you. What are you looking for?"

"Co-ordinates. Believe it or not, I'm not from this world, or this time. I need to find a way back home. Hydra might have information that Shield doesn't."

"How the hell is a map going to help you?"

"Not those types of co-ordinates. Those are useless, at least useless until I have the Universe co-ordinates. If there is a realm where Reed Richards has published and confirmed his MultiVerse theory, there's an Universal Address that I can use to go home. Hydra, the insidious bastards they tend to be, are the first people on my list to get information that is either difficult to obtain, or information that shouldn't be in their hands to begin with. The Super Solider Project, Shield, any other place that you'd think Hydra wouldn't have a finger in the pie, they've most likely got their entire hand in there. Or tentacle, whatever floats your boat. But Hydra may have that information I need, and you're looking for the bastards who fucked with your head. So, my proposal is this: Let me come along with you, and I'll hack Hydra to the gills for whatever it is you're looking for. I'll follow your lead, hang back when you tell me to, and set things sky high when you're done."

"You'll follow my every order?"

"I didn't say that. I'll follow your lead. Big difference."

A hand finds it on her throat. A metal one.

'Well, shit. Should have seen that one coming.'

"If we do this, you follow my orders. Say yes, or say good night." the hand tightens a fraction.

"Okay. Yes, I'll follow your orders. I know when I'm at a disadvantage." She held up her hands in a way of surrender, and the metal hand tightens again for a fraction of a second, then lets her go.

"Do you have any gear?"

"I'm wearing it. I don't have need for anything else to add."

"Then let's go. I want a look at all of it. There's an empty safe house we can use for now."

~~~~Somewhere in Moscow~

'Not the first time I've had to do this, not going to be the last.' She shrugged on the pilfered clothing the Winter Solider provided. Luckily, they were clean, and she could hear him lifting each item and examine it.

"You could just ask." She called from the bathroom, pulling on an over-sized sweater. Not too loudly, the walls in the safe house were the next thing to paper, and the neighbors of this apartment complex would undoubtedly call the police if she mentioned what any of her materials were.

"This bottle. What is it?" She stepped out as he held up a bottle, small and half-full with a shimmering liquid.

"That's the Good Night Spell. I'd rather you didn't try to open it."

Grey eyes snapped over to her. He tossed the bottle up in the air, and the liquid became a fragment of the night sky, stars and galaxies winking away as it span, abruptly going dark when he caught it again.

"What does it do?"

"It's a death spell."

"Death spell?"

"Yes." She took the bottle, tilting it slightly. "Three hours after exposure, the victim will fall asleep, and from there, the brain floods the body with endorphin, making the process of stopping the heart and lungs completely painless. Of course, like most of my magic, there's a price to pay."

The bottle flickered, a crescent moon flitting into view before being swallowed by clouds. 'Good hunting weather.'

"The price to pay is that I take in the memories of those who die. So for a few days after using this, I'm useless."

"The knives?" He picked up one of the inscribed blades, shaped like the feather of an owl, testing the weight between his fingertips.

"Preferred weapon. I'm not that great a fighter actually, my style is to get the hell out of your reach as quickly as possible. So, in my time, I usually stick to support or distraction." The Winter Solider flipped the knife and pulled back his arm to throw it at the wall. "Please don't throw that. I know they don't look like much, but they are enchanted to hit a person in the line of flight, let them be on the other side of a steel wall or a hundred yards away."

He paused.

"Why would you have an enchantment like that." He carefully placed the knife on the bed. "Are they all like this?"

"My father is a boy scout, but he doesn't like my idea of 'always be prepared'." She shrugged. "And no. Just the ones that look like bird feathers."

Systematically, he began sorting her weapons, asking her what each one did, until he reached her bracelets.

"Those. I touched them earlier. There were voices. Why?"

"Soul containers. The Pearl String, the Clay Chambers, the Sacred Thread, and the Bone Beads. Souls of the dead who willingly bound their mortal souls to an eternity of service after death. There are over two million souls inside them, all bound to me."

"You hate that?" He asked her.

"Not really. Octavius is a pain, but there are other souls that are far more dangerous." She picked up the bracelets and slipped them over her wrist. "The Assassin for one. A nice gentleman, but even in death, I wouldn't make him upset."

"The Assassin?"

"One of the eight Souls within the Pearls. The Patron Builder, Octavius. The Gravekepper, a Shade of Lady Death. The Assassin, Hassan-i Sabbah. The Guide, the Shepard, the Bard, the Healer, and the Oracle. The last five have no memory of the names they were given at birth. The Clay Chambers hold legions after legions of yoemen and riflemen, the Bone Chamber contains shieldmen and guardsmen. The Sacred Thread holds the villages that were wiped from the pages of history and memory, down to the last child. I fell into the Abyss to grab one thread, I came out with four."

"Why children? Do they know what happened to them?"

"Yes. And between you and me, I wouldn't underestimate them. The Thread holds those who are mostly benevolent, but totally vengeful when the need arises. There are seven such treads in the world at large, one forever unattainable, since it sleeps in the belly of the world serpent, two in the possession of a wizard in London."

He stared at her, eyes narrowed.

"No, that is not a book reference. Well, it is a book title, but the other two bracelets are legit owned by some wizard in London. He's kinda convinced the whole world that he's some innocent nerd and just adores houseplants."

"Right."

"If we end up in London, I'm going to show you who he is."

"Mm-hm."

She narrowed her eyes back.

"I can't tell if you're fucking with me."

The Winter Solider's expression flickered for a second. Mischievous, then back to suspicious, then confused.

"You alright?"

He shuddered.

'His conditioning is starting to wear off.' She realized. 'I see. Daddy and Dad mentioned that he took a few years to return mostly to his old self. This'll be rough.'

"You take the bed. I'll keep watch." He turned away, and began to lay out his weapons on the other bed, so she started packing hers away.

"Do I get to know where we're going?"

"Tomorrow we head north. There's an outpost. I might have you use that Good Night spell."

She paused in picking up a knife.

She took a deep breath.

"Fair enough." She finished packing away her weapons and crawled under the covers. "See you ate dawn?"

"Good as time as any."

"Good night."

He grunted, and flicked off the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the time line, and brief profiles.
> 
> The Wizard of London is an amazing book by Mercedes Lackey. You like magic in turn of the century England? Go read that. It's part of an amazing series.


	10. Timeline, as it stands and characters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So part 2 is gonna be more family oriented.

The timeline(s), and a brief history leading up to these events.

Original Timeline A  
2015- Holmes and Jack born, their mother killed shortly after birth.  
2018- Lilith born via surrogate. Fate of surrogate unknown.  
2019-2031- Lilith, Holmes, and Jack become Hydra task force, eliminating enemies and defectors, such as the Winter Solider.  
2032-2033- The Avengers are alerted to the trio, albeit too late, after Black Widow is KIA. Jack dies in the subsequent fight with Hawkeye. In retaliation, Holmes and Lilith kill Hawkeye, Thor, and Bruce Banner. They also target and eliminate several other Avengers, the final list including Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and the near-impossible to kill Wolverine.  
2034- Holmes and Lilith attack the remaining Avengers, ending with Iron Man in a coma, and Holmes dead. Captain America attempts to kill Lilith, but she escapes to the past where he's unable to follow. This action causes the creation of Timeline B.

Timeline B  
2012- Lilith arrives in the past, attempting to eliminate the Avengers. He efforts ultimately fail. She is kept in Shield isolation for two years, during which, she eventually determines that any attempts on the Avengers is a futile task. Ceres crash-lands somewhere in Hong-Kong, and is discovered by Hydra.  
2013-2014- Lilith makes overtures to the Avengers in order for some level of freedom. Eventually, they accept her request, on the condition that she remains at Stark Tower.  
2015- Twin brothers, dubbed M1 and M2 are born on November 30th and December 1st. Their mother is executed for attempting to escape with them.  
2016- The Avengers start an all out extermination of Hydra bases, using the intelligence provided by Lilith. M1 and M2 are submitted into the Berserker and Vulture programs. The Winter Solider turns on Hydra after circumstances prevent scheduled cyrostasis. During this time, Steve and Tony get married.  
2017- Hydra learns of an informant, but do not know that it is Lilith. They begin a purge of the ranks to chase out the leak. The final death count rests at over 2,000 people. Winter Solider reaches out to the Avengers, allows himself to be captured and put on stand by. M2 in the Vulture program goes into a rage and kills- and attempts to eat- 11 others in the program, all his female siblings. His later realization causes him to attempt his first suicide, which fails, and his first major self-harm incident, where he claws his own eyes out. M1 in the Beserker program remains the only survivor after M3 knocks him unconscious and kills M4-M26. M3 commits suicide by hanging himself.  
2018- T12 is born via C-Section. The surrogate was not given anesthesia, resulting in death by blood loss and shock. This event imprints on the newborn T12's mind, resulting in the deaths of 120 members of Hydra, and 14 children in the T program. T12 and one other survive. The violent and uncontrolled being in the newborn is labeled 'Entity'. Six months later, T12 is moved to the same facility as M1 and M2.  
2019- The Avengers, with Lilith and Winter Solider in tow, storm the facility where M1, M2, and T12 are held; all three children now known as 'Beserker', 'Vulture', and 'Entity'. The groups split up, and Lilith discovers the children about to be executed. Upon interfering, Lilith is mortally wounded by a slow-killing gut shot. Lilith later dies after naming Timeline B's child 'Cahir' (1). Captain America from Timeline A arrives only to find Lilith dead.  
2020-2021- The Avengers keep the three children secret, both from the general public and the superhero community. This ends when Cahir (3) teleport herself and two brothers (named Asmund and Sagittarius, both 5) to Central Park. The influx of magic alerts Stephen Strange, and when he investigates, find the three children. He brings them back to Avengers Tower after determining their parentage.  
2022- The attempt to enroll Asmund and Sagi in elementary school fails.  
2023- Wang becomes Asmund and Sagi's teacher, mainly due to Asmund causing sporadic thunderstorms. He does not allow Strange to change his mind.  
2024- Charles Xavier, accompanied by Storm and Logan, met Sagi for the first time, as it is discovered that Sagi is a mutant. It does not go well. Sagi becomes enraged and attacks Logan. Logan walks away covered in blood, but mostly unharmed. Storm and Charles are not attacked. All future visits made by Charles are made alone.  
2025- Cahir (7) is kidnapped for the first time by AIM in a diversion attack on the Avengers. This action reveals the presence of the three children to the general public. CPS takes away Asmund and Sagi. Three days later, on the way to a foster home, both boys disappear from the car. Both are later discovered in Asgard. A month later, Cahir is rescued after causing an explosion at her kidnappers location. The Avengers take her home, and Heimdall escorts the boys back from Asgard. It is discovered the Heimdall helped Asmund engineer the boys' escape. CPS tries to take all three children again, only to have Odin order Heimdall bring all three to Asgard. This causes CPS to try to send representatives to Asgard, only to have Thor (acting as Odin's proxy) to deny them. After several months, CPS is faced with SI's legal consul. All charges are dropped, and the children return to Stark Tower in time for bed. Shortly after, several Asgardian tutors arrive, freeing Wang to return to his librarian duties. All three children learn All-Speak as a result.  
2026- Asmund is acknowledged as Thor's child, and named a Prince of Asgard. Loki, being on probation, meets his nephew, who promptly introduces him to Cahir. Much to the dismay of most of the Avengers, they become fast friends. Cahir (8) begins learning magic, under both Loki and Stephen Strange.  
2027-2028- Cahir (10) debuts in high society. She proceeds to avoid it like the plague from then on. Tony does not discourage this behavior, much to the fury of many other members of the elite. Tony spreads the idea that Cahir is scared of being kidnapped again. Two months later, Cahir is kidnapped for a second time, this time outside a local bookstore. The incident lasts no longer than two hours, as Cahir teleports herself to the Sanctum. Wang, highly amused by the recent turn of events, takes her back home.  
2029- A third attempt to kidnap Cahir (11) goes horribly wrong after she unleashes the Iron Legion on Hydra. The resulting structural damage leads to the Avengers relocation to Stark Manor, while Tony begins building a training base.  
2030- Cahir (12), alongside Tony, Strange, and Loki, perfect a teleportation system between the tower, the manor, and the training center. Officially, the Avengers live at the Manor, but they converted a majority of the manor into a functional medical center for the Avengers. the tower is treated as the main home, and the training center as headquarters.  
2031- Cahir (13) is kidnapped for the third time, by Victor Von Doom. He attempts to use her as a bargaining chip against Hydra, but it backfires when Hydra attacks him as well as the Avengers. Doom keeps her captive for seven months. The Avengers, in a global, multi-team effort, manage to track her down in Wakanda, where she was being kept in the medical wing of King T'Calla. Doom had attempted to seek asylum, and was chased out of the country. When Cahir goes back to the states, T'Calla gives her a vibravium chestplate, both as a token of apology and as a mark of friendship.  
2032- Cahir (14) has a growth spurt shortly after her birthday, prompting Bruce to investigate her health. It is discovered that Cahir has a very rudimentary Super Solider Serum in her system, enough to result in her becoming healthy and heal faster, but she does not have the same level of strength as Steve or James. She is classified in the Shield records as a mutate. Asmund and Sagi (17) petition to become Avengers, a request that is eventually granted to them.  
2033- Chair (15) petitions to become an Avenger, but specifies that she wants to be support. Her request is granted, and she's entered into a probationary program with several other prospective Avengers. Ceres, held captive by Hydra since 2012, wakes up and sends a magical 'scream' over the magic spectrum. Cahir gets pulled into it, as well as several others, but Cahir and Ceres end up with their souls mesh together rather messily. Within a week, both are nearly comatose, and Strange makes the difficult decision to rip their souls apart. He accomplishes his task, but spends the next month attempting to sew the two souls back into their original forms and bodies, to limited success. The resulting three-way soul bond is permanent.  
2034- Cahir (16) goes on a mission with her family.. During this mission, the Avengers, sans Cahir, are KIA.  
2035-2045- Cahir goes on a single-minded mission to save her family. She collects the Infinity Stones of Time, Space, Reality, and Power, and rips a hole through time, to the year 2034. The resulting actions cause Timeline C. Her world, in exchange, is destroyed.  
Timeline C  
2034- Cahir is on a mission with her family, the Avengers, when an anomaly appears on her radar. She goes to investigate, Ceres, Asmund and Sagi with her, where they come across a spacial rip. There's a sudden flux of energy, and the four are pulled in.

Currrent  
2015- An energy spike happens in New Mexico.  
2016- Another energy spike happens over Budapest. Six months later, a third happens at Winchester.  
2018- A third energy spike happens, only to abruptly cut off and reappear elsewhere. This spike vanishes again and ends with collision with the Helicarrier.  
Events follow from Chapter two on.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Characters!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Cahir Jamie Stark-Rogers  
16  
5'1  
Light brown hair, hetrochromatic blue-grey eyes, right is blue, left is grey. Takes after Tony.

Personality- Strong-willed and curious. She's got a bad habit of poking the hornets nest, but she's extremely loving and affectionate to those she considers family. She's incredibly intelligent, much like Tony, and a decent strategist. She knows her way around any tool you set in front of her, and loves drawing as much as Steve does. She's not a total gear head, but is a techo nerd. She considers all of Tony's AI's her older siblings, and is often found talking to Dum-E and U. She's also very sarcastic, and uses it as a cover for when she's worried or panicked. She seems shallow, but like Tony, she's a natural at making people she what she wants them to see.

Fighting Style- Not much of one to speak of. She doesn't have the physical strength to keep up with most of the Avengers, so she was trained in evasion and distraction. What she lacks in strength, she makes up for in stamina, so she can keep up with Steve and James when push comes to shove. Her greatest strength is her magic, and she uses it well. She can fly in a modified suit of armor, which can be glamoured to look like the regular Iron Man armor, and she also has a bevy of spirits to help her if she's grounded. He knives, which are her primary source of defense, have different enchantments on them, such as staying in motion until it hits something, or homing in on a single target. Her ritual daggers are used in blood rituals, and she can use the blood she causes to be spilled as weapons. She can also compress blood into a reddish-black orb for later use. She has a variety of spells at her disposal, such as the Good Night potion and another called The Fury. Her earrings and choker are also mage focuses, and she uses them and filters when she siphons off magic from her enemies. Cahir can also become the Entity, the unreleased fury that her surrogate imprinted on her mind. Entity does not care for anything other than self-preservation, and all of Cahir's magical potential becomes fully tapped, making it shine through her skin and rendering it an eerie pulsating blue. In this state, any type of contact with her will result in the total decimation of what it was, to the point that the memory of it will be gone and never to be recovered. This exhausts her, and will cause her to fall unconscious after two minutes. Her last skill is that of technomagery, and as long as she has her pouch, there's no limit to what she can make.

Likes- Cats, cat socks, shorts, technology, video games, making tech, hot chocolate, the bots

Dislikes- Idiots, bunny slippers, technophobes, waiting for hot chocolate, Fury, the helicarrier, medical

Wants- a little brother. Or a sister. Or a cat, if kids aren't okay. She's not picky.

Education- Cahir, like her brothers, was taught by private tutors. She did enroll in college, and has a degree in technology.

Relationships- Cahir has a complicated three-way soul bond with Ceres and Stephen.

 

``

Asmund Johnathan Thorsson  
19  
6'0  
Black hair, blue eyes with yellow lines

Personality- Asmund is the most polite and formal of the three. He is calm and rational, and holds no grudges. Not to say that he's a pushover, Asmund has a wicked temper when provoked, and a truly mean side when he's angry. He address everyone by their proper first names, or titles, depending on who you are, and no amount of asking him will change that. He's extremely protective of Sagi and Cahir, while he and Ceres are good friends. He's often out roaming the town, and has a fascination with travel. He's not scared of much, and is quick to brush off concerns of his own health when he's injured. He adores small animals and children, and they appear to like him right back. He doesn't look it, but Asmund is very fond of puns.

Fighting Style- Asmund is part of ground control, mostly because that his magic is uncontrollable if he's not physically on the ground. He's also capable of linking his magic to someone else's and forming a chain reaction. Usually, Asmund fights with his fists, as most metal metals in his hands once he starts using his magic. He's skilled at using close range weaponry, but lacks the same skill with long range weapons. Thor taught Asmund most of his combat magic, but Loki taught Asmund defensive magic and evasion. Asmund, unlike Cahir, does not use blood magic, but does donate to the cause whenever Cahir needs something with more power. He's also the default link for Sagi, as they are twins, and he can track anybody by scent, a trick he picked up from Logan. Asmund, like Cahir and Sagi, can tap into the Hydra training called Beserker. His magic becomes directed into his body, making him as strong as the Hulk and Thor combined, and about as mindless as the Abomination.

Likes- Coffee, rainy days, books, cold days, thunder storms

Dislikes- Heat, being underground, loud music, getting ambushed by the bots, getting shot

Wants- to stop being someone's target practice. He may be able to walk off a shot to the neck, it doesn't mean he's okay with it.

Education- Asmund is a college student, working on his medical degree.

Relationships- Asmund is bisexual, and is currently enjoying a no-strings fling with a guy he met a college.

~~

Sagittarius Nikolai Hiller  
19  
5'10  
Red hair, green eyes

Personality- Sagi is the shyest of the group, and is more likely to hang back than talk. He's uncomfortable in large crowds, and his anxiety can cause him to have massive panic attacks if he's not careful. He also is considered a high risk for self-harm and suicide attempts, because his mutation is purely psiconic, and tied intimately to his senses. As a result, Sagi will display signs of multiple personality disorder and bipolar disorder, but he does not have it himself. He readily admits that he's highly dependent on the Avengers to help him stay sane, as the activity of their minds acts as a buffer from the rest of the world. Sagi is a witty when the mood strikes him, and loves a good debate. He has endless compassion for mutants who struggle with their power, even though he's still very much a real danger to the mutant society as a whole. Sagi is constantly working on de-triggering Vulture, so that someday he'll be able to meet his brother-in-law without worry.

Fighting Style- Sagi, like Clint, is a long range fighter. Just like Asmund has difficulty with long range, Sagi has difficulty fighting hand to hand. His mutation makes it easy to predict the enemies movements at a distance, but closer ranges overwhelm him. So Sagi will hold an external perimeter to overlap that of Asmund, who naturally sticks close to him. When the push does happen, Sagi reverts to Vulture, a highly violent and uncontrollable manifestation of pain and trauma. Vulture is animalistic and cannibalistic, and cannot make the distinction between friend and foe. Asmund and Cahir are just as likely to be attacked as anybody else. Vulture will attack until he's overwhelmed, at which point Vulture will abruptly retreat, leaving Sagi to deal with the aftermath, let it be a serious injury or someone dying.

Likes- being near his family, listening to music, listening to conversations, perching up high on windy days

Dislikes- his forgetfulness, Vulture, being in large crowds, being left alone, silence

Wants- for everything to stop hurting so bad.

Education- Sagi is currently being trained as a teacher by Charles, so he can help with psiconic mutants.

Relationships- Sagi is married to Allen, whose younger brother is a psiconic mutant.

``

Ceres  
?  
5'11  
White to gold hair, purple eyes

Personality- Ceres is a genial young (?) man from another universe. He's not human, but a humanoid cross-breed, making him disliked by the inhabitants of his home world. Little is known about his home, other than his mother was of high rank and was cast into poverty after it was discovered that she had him. Ceres is as curious as a kitten and has about as much self-preservation. He's always poking his nose into things he shouldn't and always ends up paying the price. He's somewhat gullible, as certain things that are obviously not true, he will believe, a trait about himself that he makes fun of occasionally. He enjoys learning, but it is made difficult as he cannot read English. He tries to make others happy, and tends to neglect himself. Ceres is uncomfortable around healthy relationships, primarily because he's never really experienced one himself, and frequently excuses himself when couples around him become affectionate.

Fighting Style- Ceres fights in his true form, that of a Phoenix-Dragon hybrid. He is capable of breathing fire and crushing things with his jaws. He can also pick up massive amounts of weight and carry it off. He is like Bruce, in that he doesn't like fighting, and acts as an emergency reserve, using his huge form to do perimeter control, and taking down what the Avengers can't.

Likes- Hot tea, audio books, educational shows, Curious George, fruit, shiny things, coins, antiques

Dislikes- Cold spots, horror movies, fighting, someone stealing his nest

Wants- To go back home, even though he knows that it's a fruitless endeavor.

Education- Ceres is illiterate, and does not actually speak English, but a pigeon version of his home world language. It is only through close proximity to Cahir, Sagi, or Asmund that he's understandable, since the three know All-Speak.

Relationships- Ceres shares a three-way soul bond with Cahir and Strange. He's mildly uncomfortable with it, and is trying to find ways to undo it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comic book science at it's finest. Adore me, I spent two days writing this.


	11. If left alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two begins.

It's bitterly cold. He's not sure how long he's been out here, but it doesn't really matter. 

He's barely aware of his surroundings right now, which is why he fails to hear the deliberate footsteps of a certain billionaire.

"We already have two Popsicles. We don't need a third." Tony notes mildly. Allen jerks, but Tony must have been closer that he realized, because as he fell forward, a strong hand gripped the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards. "Please don't do that either."

Allen lets Tony pull him out of the cold and into the Manor's communal living room, where he was promptly ambushed by a warm blanket, and several of the mechanical dogs that roamed the property.

"Easy guys, I know you want to help, but bum-rushing isn't going to cut it." Tony told the pack, and most of them backed off. There was one that stayed pretty much glued to his leg, and he let it herd him towards the couch. Once he's tucked into a corner, he notices that the dog that sticks close is Creak, the first mechanical dog that Tony... well, appropriated. All the others that followed were joint projects between him and Cahir. Vaguely, he recalled that SI was looking into some trail-basis K-9's units, and Tony and Cahir were at the forefront off that research. Hence, all the dogs.

Creak whuffs lightly, and he hears the vents open a little and heat starts radiating off his metal body.

"Creak. Be careful with that." Tony calls over. The pack of mechanical dogs follow him faithfully. Allen watches as the billionaire makes a cup of hot chocolate. He's wearing a dark grey hoodie over sweats. The hoodie has a large patch on the back, marking it either as Steve's or James'.

"What time is it?"

"Earlier than you think. Gotta love December." Tony finishes with the hot chocolate and walks over with a cup, holding it out to Allen. Under the velvety scent, there's a sharper bite of alcohol.

"Figured you'd need a drink. It's been a rough day for you." Tony sits on the coffee table, his own cup in hand. He doesn't drink from it, just stares into the liquid. "For all of us."

Allen feels the sting in his eyes, but takes a large swallow of the chocolate. Right.

"Three years."

"Three years." Tony agrees.

It should have been happier, but there's nothing really to celebrate.

Never mind it's the first of December.

Never mind it's been hellish watching the Avengers force themselves to tough it out.

Never mind any of that.

They're alive.

Three years of searching, trying to find anything about what happened that fateful mission that took four of the Avengers.

Alive.

And the manor still feels like a tomb.

The tower is occupied by an A.I who built themselves a body to look like a twin to a sister who's not even there.

A training facility that sits the next thing to abandoned because none of the people it was built for stay any longer than it takes to heal from their injuries.

Tony's right. He needs a drink. He drains the cup.

He wants more than what Tony would ever allow, and a small part of him is grateful that the one person whose intimately familiar with overindulgence is keeping an eye on him.

He hears a noise, and he can tell by the sharp clack that it's Natasha.

"Hot cocoa?" She asks. He hears her walk to the kitchen, but it's sounding very far away.

Tony says something, but it sounds like a distant echo.

Ah.

He would laugh at the cliche level of drugging Tony just pulled on him, but he's too tired to hate. Too tired to do anything other then sink into blissful oblivion.

Maybe he'll wake up beside Sagi.

Like he's supposed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus, Peter, Paul, and Mary. I'm so sorry for how long this took.
> 
> As some of you know, Hurricane Irma tried to make Florida her bitch. Of course, being a Florida resident, I was alternating between two modes: 'I got this' and 'JESUS FUCK WE'RE GONNA DIE'.
> 
> I was helping my younger brother evacuate out of the state, because he was living in a Zone A flood area, and he spent the week up in Tennessee (the irony of that will never fail to amuse me), and I was helping the other brother make sure that the asshats in his neighborhood didn't have a reason to try and loot his house while he went further inland, because unlike my younger brother, his job was tied to the state; and just because some Cat 5 hurricane is heading your way doesn't mean the tiling stops.
> 
> I spent the week at the house of my Mom's BF, where it was discovered that the man has 1000+ channels, but no internet. Thank god my professors extended the due dates for all homework and class work. Power at my home went out, and it wasn't until 9/17 we got power back.
> 
> We were lucky, incredibly so. the worst damage we got was a few broken twigs scattered in the yard, and Mom's BF had lost a couple roof tiles. It could have been much worse. It's still a tenuous situation, since we are still dealing with certain gas stations being out of gas, and most grocery stores are struggling to keep their shelves stocked, but we're okay.
> 
> I also had a bad emotional breakdown that lead to my Mom pretty much drugging me for two days because, boy oh boy, stress and lack of sleep conspired to make my life hell.
> 
> But the chapter is up, and I hope, if you're in Florida, you've made it out okay, and if you haven't, I hope your lives take a turn for the better in the next 24 hours, because we all need it.
> 
> So, sit back and enjoy, hopefully things start calming down.


	12. It will fester with longing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He-ey, remember that A.I that got mentioned?

It's below freezing.

Looking up, he observes the insignia worked into the glass work of the building.

He knows that there are alerts that line the perimeter of the property, but he also knows that they won't react to him. He's thankful for his unique physiology.

He enters the Sanctum.

Tadashi knows that if there is anyone who can give him answers, it would be Stephen Strange.

~~  
Stephen lets his latest spell fade out. He's exhausted, and knowing Cahir and Ceres were alive eased a load he didn't even know he carried.

It seems cruel, to know that only Cahir and Ceres were alive, but if Cahir was alive, it was pretty much a guarantee that the other two were alive as well.

"You need to sleep." Wang notes softly. He's one to talk, for once, since Cahir was one of the few children that he liked.

"I will sleep when I have a lock on her."

"I fear that you'll have no luck with that endeavor." A new voice adds.

Stephen and Wang don't jump, but they do turn in unison to the source.

Behind them, just inside the open study door, stands a young man with light brown hair and hetrochromatic eyes, one blue, the other grey, a male mirror to-

"Tadashi. I wasn't aware that you could leave the Tower." Wang ventured, in a too-calm voice.

Stephen understands the trepidation. Tadashi never displayed the ability or even the inclination to leave the safety of Stark Industries.

"You have information on my sister. I thought you might need something to connect to her."

Stephen shares a glance with Wang.

"Surely you have plenty of that information at your disposal."

Tadashi tilted his head to one side, and Stephen is reminded of how well Tadashi is programmed. He's incredibly alive, and it unnerves Stephen to a small degree.

"Dad... Dad has not been to the Tower. My information comes directly from Creak."

"The dog?" Wang asks. Tadashi nods.

"Dad has seemed to forget that Creak is an Artificial Intelligence like myself. Or rather, he's a purer A.I."

"'Purer'?" Stephen has a feeling that Tadashi has been hiding something very big.

"Yes. Thanks to the experiment Cahir and I have been working on, I'm only about 60% mechanical."

Stephen feels a headache bloom instantaneously.

Why did he have to be right?

~~!

Tony storms into the Sanctum, Steve and Bucky on his heels. When he got the call from Strange, he wasn't expecting the man to say 'Tadashi is here and he says he and Cahir have been up to no good'.

When he bangs into the study, Tadashi is seated on a couch, with Wang holding a glowing palm over the A.I's arm.

"So what happened?" He asks.

Stephen sighs.

"This." He waves a hand, and a shimmering image of Tadashi's body. It's mostly orange, but there's a mass of green spreading from the center of his body and out to his limbs and head.

"What am I looking at?" Tony asks the former surgeon.

"You're looking at human organs inside a special membrane that is gradually changing his body."

Tony stares. Steve stares. Bucky looks at Tadashi.

"Care to explain?" He asks.

"Cahir and I were looking into the Extremis virus and how it could be adapted to artificial limbs."

"What?!" Tony shouted.

"We-"

"No, I heard you the first time. You two were looking into something I _explicitly told both of you to leave alone_. _Am I hearing this right?_ "

"We were trying to help." Tadashi admits. His skin, which is purely synthetic, flushes slightly.

"With what?! Tadashi, the Extremis virus is dangerous, I only managed to stabilize it after making a gamble. And you two were screwing around with it?"

Tadashi doesn't say anything for a long moment.

"We noticed how much pain Rhodney was in after he lost his legs. We thought is we could find away to integrate mechanical limbs to the human body that was more effective and painless, we could help those whom suffered multiple limb loss. So we did some preliminary research into Extremis, and Cahir wondered if it was possible to re-write Extremis' code to gradually change from mechanical, to bio-mechanical, to fully natural. So... I volunteered. Of those who could afford to do this, I was the one with the capabilities needed to constantly observe the changes, and given the sheer mass of what we wanted to change for this, I was the best and only candidate. So, Cahir injected me with the re-written virus, and we waited. Given the rate of conversion, I have about six more years before I can be considered fully human."

Tony was still furious, but he could see the logic behind what the two were doing. Trying to help. Trying to clean up a mess they had no hand in.

Just like that, Tony's fury dissipated.

"Why didn't you just ask?" He asked, hyper aware how plaintive the words sounded in the silent study.

"Because that wasn't the only thing we were doing." Tadashi near-whispers. "We were... are... also in the process of reconstructing Jarvis."

Tony felt a pang in his chest. Seven years, and it still felt like he was being shot in the chest.

"I hate to admit it... But I can't accept the parameters Jarvis established in the defense data. None of the A.Is can. It was something he wrote into the code himself, and only he could accept it. The data that Cahir has in her head is every piece of data Jarvis accumulated during his life. It's so dense, my memory banks have difficulty comprehending it." Tadashi fiddles with the hem of his shirt, the movement eerily similar to Cahir's. "I don't think any of the A.I's had any idea just how much Jarvis had learned, right up to the second he self-destructed. And..." Tadashi trailed off.

"'And'?" Steve prompted, going over to kneel in front of Tadashi.

"Dum-E asked us to bring him back. Cahir has... had all the information in her head, when he uploaded every terabyte into her mind. Dum-E found out and told us what he wanted. So, Cahir set to work on the virus, and I worked on rebuilding Jarvis' core. Once we were done with both of those, I began uploading the information from my data banks to Jarvis' core, while simultaneously monitoring the changes Extremis was making to my body. Because of how my processors were built, I was able to continue the upload as a background application, so it slipped by Jay and Kay legitimately."

"And what about your defense protocols? You can't expect Jarvis to run them for you." Tony leaned against the desk, feeling very tired.

"No. I let Creak take them. He's better suited to the task." 

Creak.

Tony felt the urge to laugh.

No wonder the dog was sticking around like white on rice.

He had Tadashi's defense protocols, meaning Tadashi was free to follow through with an insane (yet brilliant) plan hatched by Cahir and harass Strange in his den.

"And why did you come here?" He asked, rubbing his brow.

"Creaks said that Stephen was having difficulties locking onto Cahir. Since we used the genetic data that Cahir shares with the three of you for the virus, it's theoretically possible that I can be used to lock onto her location."

Tony felt himself freeze.

"You used... What?"

"We used genetic data. Bruce gave us the samples of all three of your chromosomal make-up, he didn't ask why. It's why if my genetic data was read, it be 99% similar to Cahir's. Except rather than an XX, I have an XY."

Tony briefly felt a rise in anger at Bruce, but quickly dismissed it. Bruce wasn't told why they wanted the data, since Cahir had expressed on multiple occasions that she wanted to figure out she could even exist without a proper maternal chromosome set. Knowing Cahir, she had multiple ideas, probably of she had the spare time, trying to see if she could glean the information from her own genes about how Hydra succeeded where so many failed.

"So you think you're enough of a match to help find Cay?" Bucky asked Tadashi.

"It's theoretical, but yes. Having a tether can help link like to like."

Strange raised an eyebrow.

"Strange?" Steve asked, he, like Bucky, had remained mostly silent, but he had been observing.

"A curious way to phrase that." Strange said cryptically.

Tadashi's skin flushed again.

"Well... Cahir's was helping me learn how to control my magic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda short, but I'm not sorry for the cliff hanger.


End file.
